Varsity Blues
by Brian Robbins
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Amy Smart, James Van Der Beek, Jon Voight, Paul Walker, Ron LesterDirector: Brian Robbins
Brand: Team Marketing
Producer: Brian Robbins
Producer: David Gale
Producer: Elysa Koplovitz
Producer: Herb Gains
Producer: Martin Wiley
Producer: Michael Tollin
Writer: W. Peter Iliff
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen, 1.85:1
Running Time: 106 minutes
DVD Release Date: 1999-05-31
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Paramount
Movie Reviews of Varsity Blues
Movie Review: Absolutely great sports movie, but what's up with Moxon?
Summary: 5 Stars
The brief synopsis: In West Canaan, Texas, football is life. The entire city revolves around the religion of football. The team is led by big-man-on-campus Lance Harbor (Paul Walker). Along with the typical cast of zany teammates, a maniacal, championship coach named Bud Kilmer (Jon Voigt - awesome in this role), and the backup QB, Jonathan Moxon (Van Der Beek), the team faces and overcomes difficulties. Team pulls out improbable, far-fetched play to triumph in the end. Tons of exciting and believable football action sequences. There has always been something about the movie that troubled me, however - aside from the improbability of finding a football helmet that would fit Dawson's coconut - Jonathan Moxon's character.
Mox never studies, yet he's rumored to be in the running for an academic scholarship to an Ivy League University (Brown). When Harbor goes down early in the season, Mox must step up and be a hero. With scholarship dreams dancing in his head, Mox had put all of his eggs in one basket. The only problem is his complete nonchalance and inattentiveness to his studies also leaks into his football. Despite these deficiencies, he becomes an overnight superstar. He gets free beer after the game, but it's not a big deal. Everything up until this point in the movie is fishy, and THIS is where I figured out what was going on.
No real controversy to get beer. Hmm. Doesn't study school books or play books. Hmm. Mox has failed over ten times; he's in his late twenties, been in high school for years, and his receding hairline finally gave him away.
The reason he didn't need to read the playbook is because he memorized the plays. Kilmer has been using the same plays for each of Dawson's last 8 years as a backup! It appears that Kilmer is frustrated that Mox doesn't read the playbook or pay attention during games, but it's actually because he's sick of seeing Mox on the sidelines. If he is going to stick around that long, he may as well be an assistant coach.
Why doesn't he study in the classroom? He's auditing the courses! He's essentially the white Radio, going to class even when it doesn't matter. He's been applying to Brown for years! That's why it's so important to him. He wants to FINALLY move out of his parents' house.
In the middle of the movie, he turns down Ali Larter (who should be a megastar because of this scene alone) in a whipped cream bikini. No way a teenage boy turns that down. No way. Why does Moxon? Two words: statutory rape. Why is he with Amy Smart? Because he knows she's the goody-two-shoes, and there is no risk (i.e. no breasts). How do the guys get into the strip club, let alone get a free ride? It's on Moxon's credit card; he opened a tab!
It all adds up folks. It doesn't get in the way of making this one of the more imminently rewatchable sports movies of all time, but it definitely adds something to the viewing pleasure. Even on late-night TV, this is always a must watch - a TEN! - if only to prove my theory once again.
Summary of Varsity Blues
In small-town Texas, high school football is a religion. The head coach is deified, as long as the team is winning and 17-year-old schoolboys carry the hopes of an entire community onto the gridiron every Friday night. In his 35th year as head coach, Bud Kilmer (Jon Voight) is trying to lead his West Canaan Coyotes to their 23rd division title. When star quarterback Lance Harbor (Paul Walker) suffers an injury, the Coyotes are forced to regroup under the questionable leadership of John Moxon (James Van Der Beek), a second-string quarterback with a slightly irreverent approach to the game. "Varsity Blues" explores our obsession with sports and how teenage athletes respond to the extraordinary pressures places on them.This MTV-produced drama only looks like an adaptation of H.G. Bissinger's expert dissertation of the church of high school football, Friday Night Lights. The energetic, breezy movie has none of the seriousness of Bissinger's book except on its basic level: in West Texas, high school football is life. Into this world comes Jonathan "Mox" Moxon (James Van Der Beek), a brainy, uncharacteristic jock who sits on the sideline reading Slaughterhouse Five until the West Caanan High School Coyotes All-Texas QB goes down with an injury. Suddenly the spotlight and the tyrannical ways of coach Bud Kilmer (another ace evil turn by Jon Voight) are on Mox and the light is white-hot. There have been several films that show tough, honest kids doing their best against the worst of small-town coaches (Tom Cruise in All the Right Moves, for one) but Varsity Blues, in its glossy style, takes a more curious turn: studying what happens when celebrity comes to the well-adjusted high schooler. Mox starts seeing the rewards of stardom: a six-pack under the counter, acceptance in school, even easy sex from the girl who goes after the starting quarterback (Ali Larter). Will Mox win the big game? Will he bend to the wills of his coach? Will he stay with his old girlfriend? The questions are easy enough to answer, but the film has an ace up its sleeve: Van Der Beek has the stuff to carry the movie. Fans of TV's Dawson's Creek will see a slightly grittier dreamboat here, and Van Der Beek's care with the role makes the most ludicrous parts--including a trip to a strip club--manage a certain aura. --Doug Thomas
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